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The College News
VOL, XV, NO. 10
BRYN MAWR (AND WAYNE), PA., WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1928
PRICE. 10 CENTS
INDIVIDUALISM IS
ENEMY OF SOVIET
._.:.
Collectivism Pervades the Fac-
Svwi umhn^ Homes and
Schools.
SEEK OUR SUPPORT
*� "Resolution is the animating spirit
of Soviet Collectivism; it is jhe re-
ligion of the Russian people and Lenin
is its prophet," said Mrs. Jackson
Flemming in a most interesting lecture
given in Goodhart, Thursday, Decem-
ber 13.
The Russian "collective," Mrs. Flem-J
ming went on to tell us, is the factory.
The factories are thought of, not as a
huge mass of stone without personality,
but as a great person in itself. The
workers are made to feel the rhythm
of their machines, and to submerge
their own personalities into that of
the machine. No one has any in-
dividuality, for tbat is considered by
the Soviets as the one thing to be
fought against among its members.
When the working hours are over,
the collectivist does not return to his
family hearth, for that would be too
individual. He goes down into the
club room of the factory, chats with
his friends, hears a lecture, or li
a concert.
Children Eat in Unison
The factories are equipped with
beautiful nurseries. At feeding time
the mother goes down into the nursery,
�feeds her baby, and comes back im-
mediately. The children are taught
from infancy to think nothing but col-
lectivism. One child, no matter how
young, never sits alone afa table; there
are always four. Then one child gets
spoons, one bread, etc., until everyone
is served, then all eat together�in uni-
son, as it were. After lunch all the
children take naps and are watched by
children of six or seven, not because it
is imperative that they sleep for any
reasons of health, but because the older
children must become accustomed to
taking the responsibility of their col-
lective, though it be nothing more
important than a nursery.
If a girl meets a man whom she loves
and would like to marry, there are three
ways in which she may do so. These
ways are all legalized by the state, as the
collectivists are very anxious that large
families may be raised to carry on the
work. If the couples are not communists
they may be married by the usual church
service (communists are expelled from the
organization if they are married by the
church). Or they may be married by
the civil service; but if neither of these
ways seem convenient, they Can just live
Continued on Page Three
stetjs-ttf "Xlnfortunately
Christmas Music Forms
League's Sunday Service
The Sunday evening meeting of the
Bryn Mawr League was held in the
Music Room of Goodhart December 17.
The meeting was led by Constance Speer,
'30, and consisted of a musical service
Christmas carols were sung by the choir
and Mr. Willoughby played an organ
number from Handel's Christmas oratorio,
The Messiah.
The program was as follows:
Processional, Hymn 45�"O come O
come Emmanuel" ..Ancient Plain Song
Choir
"The Grasmere Carol"
"On Christmas Day"
Geoffrey Shaw
(old English Herefordshire Carol)
arranged by Vaughan Williams
Solo by Agnes Howell
Hymn 48�"Come Thou long ex-
pected Jesus" .........Tune Stuttgart
Prayers .
Organ�"Pastorale Symphony" (from
Messiah) ..........^.........'.Handei
Mr. Willoughby .
Choir�"Good news from Heaven," Bach;
"Bethlehem" .................Gounod
Recessional Hymn�"Hark, the Herald
, Angels Sing" .....Tune Mendelssohn
Benediction
"Adeste Fideles"
Outside Philadelphia
As concerts, theaters, movies and
public gatherings are .banned this
week, and as neV week we will all
^far from here, we wit not tempt
our. readers with a catalogue of
forbidden* fruit. Go where the
germs are a little scantier!
THIRD JEWEL OF
GOODHART SERIES
String Quartet With Alwyne
Brilliantly Presents
Light Music.
ENCORES ARE UNUSUAL
The New York String Quartet,
third jewel in the royal diadem of The
Goodhart Series, sparkled with unusual
brilliance last Tuesday evening. Our
readers .are tired of hearing how well
the college looked on its red plush
seats in its evening dresses, and with-
out boxes or dinner-parties before-
hand the society editor soon finds her
fund of enthusiastic comment ex-
hausted.
Bring in the musical editor then,
she has succumbed to
the grip Epidemic and is long past
caring for sweet sounds. We can only
report what impressed the layman.
As entertainment, the program could
not have been better. The four play-
ers, who for three years never passed
a day without playing together and
never in all that time gave a public
performance, are examples of what
real devotion to an idea can accomp-
lish. Brilliance is not uncommon in
modern art in any form, but in no art
but music, and in .that only rarely,
can be found such patient and willing
effort. Mr. Alwyne attuned his play-
ing so well to theirs that one might
almost have thought he had shared in
those three years of preparation.-
We are not used, in the Philadelphia
concerts, t* hearing encores; and were
agreeably surprised that what followed
Schubert was not Borodin, but a
gratuitous extra measure thrown in.
It was light and charming as encores
should be, and brief as it was pleasant.
The next encore, played between sec-
tions II and^III, was even nicer. But
(the musical editor being ill) we can-
not name either.
If there was any drawback to the
program it was that it was all too
foamy; music of the salon rather than
the concert hall. We would have liked
something more-solid for a "piece de
resistance."
After the last number, the audience
applauded wildly and hopefully for full
five minutes. '-But the quartet and Mr.
Alwyne would do no more than come
in and bow.
The program, minus the encores, was
as follows:
I Schubert,
Quartet in A Minor, Op. 29
II (a) Borodin ...........Notturno
(b) Glazounov .,.......Orientale
III Dvorak,
Piano Quintet in A Major, Op. 81
Movies Proved Injurious
by Debaters
The movies should be done away with I
So said Miss Poe and Miss Humphreys,
supporting the affirmative in Tuesday's
debate, and the judges, Dr. Smith, Dr.
Herben and Miss Lambert, awarded them
the victory. The defeated negative was
upheld by Miss Loomis and Miss Sher-
ley, who, however, was complimented on
her rebuttal. The affirmative painted in
graphic colors the moral degeneration
sure to result from contact with the
fake, wicked and unintellectual movie
stars on and off the stage. . .
Miss Merrill announced ttlat next se-
mester a debate would be held with out-
side speakers. The audience was smaller
than usnal, perhaps owing to our lengthy
sick-list.
Mr. Hazard to Speak
Contemporary Poetry Chosen as
Subject of French
Writer.
(Specially contributed by Miss, Gilmon.)
On Tuesday evenings January 8, the
college will welcome one of the most de-
lightful, as well as one of the most dis-
tinguished of French scholars and teach-
ers, Mr. Paul Hazard, Professor at the
College de France, who will lecture on�
"La Poesic contemporaine."
Mr. Hazard's special field is compara-
tive literature, the youngest branch of
literary history* and criticism, which he
has himself defined as Teffort de saisir
les cchanges intellectuels qui s'operent
entre les peuples." His -thesis was on
La Revolution /rancaise et les Lettres
italicnnes, and he rapidly became one of
the leaders in the field. In 1921, with
Mr. Fernand Baldensperger, he founded
the Revue de litterature comparec, with
its accompanying Bibliotheque, to which
scholars fiom all parts of the world arc
contributors.
Mr. Hazard has often said that for the
student of comparative literature the
study of books should be supplemented
by direct contact with different civiliza-
tions. He himself has traveled widely
in Germany, England, Italy (which he
calls "ma seconde patrie"),- Spain and
South America. In 1923 he was visit-
ing professor at Columbia for the sum-
mer session, and this last summer at the
University of Chicago, and he is at pres-
ent visiting professor at Harvard.
Among Mr. Hazard's numerous books
and articles, the most recent is the de-
lightful Vie de Stendhal which appeared
last year. He is also joint editor, with
Mr. Joseph Bedier, Qf the Histoire
illustrec de la litterature francaisc, which
was greeted with enthusiasm four years
ago. This year the French Academy has
awarded him the Grand Prix Broquette-
Gonin "pour 1' ��senible de ses oeuvres."
In speaking of his teaching Mr. Hazard
once said that if he were to write a book
on pedagogy he would include a chapter
entitled "De finHuence des eleves sur lc
professeur." In his teaching he has add-
ed to the qualities of his scholarly work,
the charm and vividness of his presenta-
tion of his carefully documented material
a most lively and generous interest in his
students and their work. To foreign
students especially his kindness has been
unbounded. His teaching at the Uni-
versity of Lyons was interrupted by the
war, in which he won the Croix de
Guerre, with the citation "Officer.de haute
valeur intellectuelle ct morale qui a rendu
de brillants services. . . .. Plein d'en-
train et anime d'un sentiment du devoir*
tres eleve, s'e'st a maintes reprises offert
spontanement pour accomplir des mis-
sions dangereuses en premiere ligne." At
the close of the war he was appointed to
the Sorbonne where his class rooms were
filled to overflowing with enthusiastic
students. In 1925 he was called to the
College de France�the highest honor
which can come to a French professor.
Contemporary literature is one of Mr.
Hazard's great'interests, and the subject
of his lecture, "La Poesie contemporaine,"
can hardly fail to attract the Bryn Mawr
audience for whom poetry, it seems, has
always a special appeal.
Erudite Speeches at
Math Club Meeting
The Math Club held its second meet-
ing of the year on Thursday afternoon
in the May Day room. Ruth Kitchen
spoke on Congruence and Juliet Gar-
rett spoke on tbe Tri-Section of the
Angle and the Duplication of the Cube
The members who are privileged to
hear and understand these discussions
are all past or present members of the
major math class. After the talks tea
was served, followed by discussion.
The meetings are supposed to take
place once a month. Dr. Widder spoke
at the first one. The officers of the
club are: Agnes Hannay, president;
C. Peckham, vice president, and R.
Kitchen, secretary.
VARSITY DRAMATICS CHOOSES
POOR PLAY, BUT ACTS WELL
Mr. Mukerji Heturntt
Dhan. Gopal Mukerji, who
thrilled Bryn Mawr. undergrad-
uates last year by telling them ho\j.
*jthey could learn the secret of true
, repose, is coming again on the
tenth "of January, and will speak
in the Music Room in the after-
noon at 4, Mr. Mukerji not only
knows and understands his own
country, hut he has I wed here long
enough to enter into the spirit,of
ours a�d-to speak its language with
compelling force. He will probably
say something about the modern
problems of India, on which he is
an authority. Among his well-
known books are Vaste and Out-
cast, and My Brother's Pact,
Qiaap^oiRtir^ "^~""*ion in
Spite of Good Coaching
and Staging.
TWO CRITICS AGREE
Miss Peek Offers a More
Aloof Criticism of Play
Two opinions are always more inter-
esting than one, particularly when one is
an undergraduate opinion and the other
from the bosom of the faculty. We know
each other too well; and even the glam-
orous footlights cannot give the illu-
sion necessary for complete-impartiality
and lack of prejudice. Miss Peck con-
sented to play the part of the aloof dra-
matic critic; and, strangely enough,
aloofness and familiarity have arrived at
nearly the same conclusions.
(Specially Contributed by K. Peek, '22)
Mr. Halcott Glover's comedy, Bellairs,
presented by Varsity Dramatics, proved
to be scarcely a �fair criterion of the
skill.of the playwright, nor of the ability
of the Bryn Mawr players. We feel that
Mr. Glover ought to adopt Mr. Bernard
Shaw's policy of refusing to allow his
plays to be- performed under circum-
stances which necessitate cutting. Bellairs,
essentially a sophisticated, breezy comedy
of the private life of an F.nglish artist
who, in splfe of himself, is hunted down
in his "retirement" by family responsi-
bilities, had to be shorn of most of its
sophistication and brceziness before" *t
could suitably grace the Bryn Mawr
boards. The actors, in consequence,
found themselves left with a somewhat
flat, thoroughly mediocre piece on their
hands. Most of its raison d'etre had
been censored, and it responded only
feebly to their very excellent efforts to
carry it. ' .
Miss Rieser as Bellairs himself gave on
the whole a convincing. interpretation of
the harassed artist. She was thoroughly
in character throughout her performance,
"temperamental," quixotic, and all the
rest of it. She kept up the tempo of the
scenes easily and they pivoted around her
as they were meant to do. There was
not, perhaps, enough contrast in her play-
ing, and her gestures, excellent at first,
tended to become stereotyped and repeti-
tious. She made the mistake of failing to
give Bellairs the full benefit of his few
expansive, genial moments; his cynicism
was tinged alternately with youthful and
senile malice, never with seasoned
sophistication.
Miss Learned's Betty Barclay fell
somewhere between the pert, pretty
barmaid and the sharp slavey. She
played the part without real emphasis,
but with admirable composure and
with charming,moments. Miss Perk-
kins as Dorothy Bellairs looked de-
lightful and acted delightfully. She
was thoroughly convincing as , she
voiced her romantic aspiration to take
to the open road with her young vaga-
bond, Giovanni, who, as played by
Miss Thomas, made such an aspiration
quite understandable. Miss Thomas
with her truly Latin ardour and lucid
common sense made the right contrast
with the cold-blooded, muddled-headed
English about her.
Miss Drake gave perhaps the most
finished piece of acting of the evening.
Her Diana Martin was amusing, spir-
ited and well-accented. It was a pleas-
ure to have her on the stage.
Continued on Pag* T*0
Bellairs, a play by Halcott Glover,
was given in Goodhart Hall on Saturday
Might by the Varsity Dramatics. Be-
cause it was the first undergraduate pro-
duction in Goodhart Hall, because it had
enjoyed the benefits of professional
coaching, and because of the amount of
work that has been put into it, we went
with high hopes. We came away dis-
appointed.
Goodhart, as always, looked lovely; so
did the ushers, an unusually numerous
bevy of beauties; so did the program,
which seemed to contain, in one capacity
or another, half the people,in college; so,
finally, when the curtain went up, did t
the stage. The scenery committee had
worked wonders. Varsity Dramatics has
l>cen clamoring for a stage where they
could have adequate scenery, and they
proved themselves in that respect worthy
of it. The scene painters had worked
day and night since Thursday, and the
effect was charming.
The first two acts were laid in a gar-
den, with a red brick cottage afTne back,
a blue sky which was cheerful if un- �
English, trees peeping over the high walls
and pleasant garden chairs. The walls ,
were decked with vines�our own col-
lege vines, looking even better on red
brick than they do on gray stone.
So we waited eagerly lor the play to
begin. An attractive young girl was say-
ing nasty things to her father, the old
Continued on Page Three ..
Religion Defaults
Quest for Spiritual Welfare Is
Both Important and
Exciting.
Only about twelve stUddhts had
sufficient eifergy to attend empel Fri-
day morning, December 14. The sub-
ject which Mrs. Manning chose was
very apropos. She discussed the real
need of Bryn Mawr and other colleges
for religious life and why colleges were
accused of not taking care of that side
of the students' life. Religion goes by
default rather than by direct under-
mining of beliefs with which youth
starts out. A great deal of this is lost
because they think thew are so many
more exciting things going on in col-
lejzc. "Young people djako a terrible
mistake," Mrs. Manning thinks, "in
thus regarding other things as more
exciting than the consideration of the
ultimate good, toward which they can
look forward." There is nothing more
exciting than that quest. Students are
really interested but they have too little
opportunity to see things through.
It might be a good idea, Mrs. Man-
ning suggested, if each member of the
faculty . could speak during the year
about this subject. But they could
not on account of the societies. Per-
haps it is for the best that they cannot,
for we are often disappointed when we
hear some one explain their views.
Mrs. Manning illustrated this by Mr.
Watson's lecture on Behaviorism.
After he had brought forward an ex-
cellent idea, he went on to give grue-
some details about married life, also he
defined happiness. Happiness is an
absorption in activity. This idea cer-
tainly shows no great new creative
effort. It is an animal idea of satisfac-
tion and absorption in what you are
doing at the moment.
"Spiritual welfare is really preferable
to bodily comfort." The greatest diffi-
culty is the question of time. That is
all the more reason why we should
take all the opportunities we have be-
cause the more we think about these
things the more interesting they be-
come.---------__

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The College News
VOL, XV, NO. 10
BRYN MAWR (AND WAYNE), PA., WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1928
PRICE. 10 CENTS
INDIVIDUALISM IS
ENEMY OF SOVIET
._.:.
Collectivism Pervades the Fac-
Svwi umhn^ Homes and
Schools.
SEEK OUR SUPPORT
*� "Resolution is the animating spirit
of Soviet Collectivism; it is jhe re-
ligion of the Russian people and Lenin
is its prophet," said Mrs. Jackson
Flemming in a most interesting lecture
given in Goodhart, Thursday, Decem-
ber 13.
The Russian "collective," Mrs. Flem-J
ming went on to tell us, is the factory.
The factories are thought of, not as a
huge mass of stone without personality,
but as a great person in itself. The
workers are made to feel the rhythm
of their machines, and to submerge
their own personalities into that of
the machine. No one has any in-
dividuality, for tbat is considered by
the Soviets as the one thing to be
fought against among its members.
When the working hours are over,
the collectivist does not return to his
family hearth, for that would be too
individual. He goes down into the
club room of the factory, chats with
his friends, hears a lecture, or li
a concert.
Children Eat in Unison
The factories are equipped with
beautiful nurseries. At feeding time
the mother goes down into the nursery,
�feeds her baby, and comes back im-
mediately. The children are taught
from infancy to think nothing but col-
lectivism. One child, no matter how
young, never sits alone afa table; there
are always four. Then one child gets
spoons, one bread, etc., until everyone
is served, then all eat together�in uni-
son, as it were. After lunch all the
children take naps and are watched by
children of six or seven, not because it
is imperative that they sleep for any
reasons of health, but because the older
children must become accustomed to
taking the responsibility of their col-
lective, though it be nothing more
important than a nursery.
If a girl meets a man whom she loves
and would like to marry, there are three
ways in which she may do so. These
ways are all legalized by the state, as the
collectivists are very anxious that large
families may be raised to carry on the
work. If the couples are not communists
they may be married by the usual church
service (communists are expelled from the
organization if they are married by the
church). Or they may be married by
the civil service; but if neither of these
ways seem convenient, they Can just live
Continued on Page Three
stetjs-ttf "Xlnfortunately
Christmas Music Forms
League's Sunday Service
The Sunday evening meeting of the
Bryn Mawr League was held in the
Music Room of Goodhart December 17.
The meeting was led by Constance Speer,
'30, and consisted of a musical service
Christmas carols were sung by the choir
and Mr. Willoughby played an organ
number from Handel's Christmas oratorio,
The Messiah.
The program was as follows:
Processional, Hymn 45�"O come O
come Emmanuel" ..Ancient Plain Song
Choir
"The Grasmere Carol"
"On Christmas Day"
Geoffrey Shaw
(old English Herefordshire Carol)
arranged by Vaughan Williams
Solo by Agnes Howell
Hymn 48�"Come Thou long ex-
pected Jesus" .........Tune Stuttgart
Prayers .
Organ�"Pastorale Symphony" (from
Messiah) ..........^.........'.Handei
Mr. Willoughby .
Choir�"Good news from Heaven," Bach;
"Bethlehem" .................Gounod
Recessional Hymn�"Hark, the Herald
, Angels Sing" .....Tune Mendelssohn
Benediction
"Adeste Fideles"
Outside Philadelphia
As concerts, theaters, movies and
public gatherings are .banned this
week, and as neV week we will all
^far from here, we wit not tempt
our. readers with a catalogue of
forbidden* fruit. Go where the
germs are a little scantier!
THIRD JEWEL OF
GOODHART SERIES
String Quartet With Alwyne
Brilliantly Presents
Light Music.
ENCORES ARE UNUSUAL
The New York String Quartet,
third jewel in the royal diadem of The
Goodhart Series, sparkled with unusual
brilliance last Tuesday evening. Our
readers .are tired of hearing how well
the college looked on its red plush
seats in its evening dresses, and with-
out boxes or dinner-parties before-
hand the society editor soon finds her
fund of enthusiastic comment ex-
hausted.
Bring in the musical editor then,
she has succumbed to
the grip Epidemic and is long past
caring for sweet sounds. We can only
report what impressed the layman.
As entertainment, the program could
not have been better. The four play-
ers, who for three years never passed
a day without playing together and
never in all that time gave a public
performance, are examples of what
real devotion to an idea can accomp-
lish. Brilliance is not uncommon in
modern art in any form, but in no art
but music, and in .that only rarely,
can be found such patient and willing
effort. Mr. Alwyne attuned his play-
ing so well to theirs that one might
almost have thought he had shared in
those three years of preparation.-
We are not used, in the Philadelphia
concerts, t* hearing encores; and were
agreeably surprised that what followed
Schubert was not Borodin, but a
gratuitous extra measure thrown in.
It was light and charming as encores
should be, and brief as it was pleasant.
The next encore, played between sec-
tions II and^III, was even nicer. But
(the musical editor being ill) we can-
not name either.
If there was any drawback to the
program it was that it was all too
foamy; music of the salon rather than
the concert hall. We would have liked
something more-solid for a "piece de
resistance."
After the last number, the audience
applauded wildly and hopefully for full
five minutes. '-But the quartet and Mr.
Alwyne would do no more than come
in and bow.
The program, minus the encores, was
as follows:
I Schubert,
Quartet in A Minor, Op. 29
II (a) Borodin ...........Notturno
(b) Glazounov .,.......Orientale
III Dvorak,
Piano Quintet in A Major, Op. 81
Movies Proved Injurious
by Debaters
The movies should be done away with I
So said Miss Poe and Miss Humphreys,
supporting the affirmative in Tuesday's
debate, and the judges, Dr. Smith, Dr.
Herben and Miss Lambert, awarded them
the victory. The defeated negative was
upheld by Miss Loomis and Miss Sher-
ley, who, however, was complimented on
her rebuttal. The affirmative painted in
graphic colors the moral degeneration
sure to result from contact with the
fake, wicked and unintellectual movie
stars on and off the stage. . .
Miss Merrill announced ttlat next se-
mester a debate would be held with out-
side speakers. The audience was smaller
than usnal, perhaps owing to our lengthy
sick-list.
Mr. Hazard to Speak
Contemporary Poetry Chosen as
Subject of French
Writer.
(Specially contributed by Miss, Gilmon.)
On Tuesday evenings January 8, the
college will welcome one of the most de-
lightful, as well as one of the most dis-
tinguished of French scholars and teach-
ers, Mr. Paul Hazard, Professor at the
College de France, who will lecture on�
"La Poesic contemporaine."
Mr. Hazard's special field is compara-
tive literature, the youngest branch of
literary history* and criticism, which he
has himself defined as Teffort de saisir
les cchanges intellectuels qui s'operent
entre les peuples." His -thesis was on
La Revolution /rancaise et les Lettres
italicnnes, and he rapidly became one of
the leaders in the field. In 1921, with
Mr. Fernand Baldensperger, he founded
the Revue de litterature comparec, with
its accompanying Bibliotheque, to which
scholars fiom all parts of the world arc
contributors.
Mr. Hazard has often said that for the
student of comparative literature the
study of books should be supplemented
by direct contact with different civiliza-
tions. He himself has traveled widely
in Germany, England, Italy (which he
calls "ma seconde patrie"),- Spain and
South America. In 1923 he was visit-
ing professor at Columbia for the sum-
mer session, and this last summer at the
University of Chicago, and he is at pres-
ent visiting professor at Harvard.
Among Mr. Hazard's numerous books
and articles, the most recent is the de-
lightful Vie de Stendhal which appeared
last year. He is also joint editor, with
Mr. Joseph Bedier, Qf the Histoire
illustrec de la litterature francaisc, which
was greeted with enthusiasm four years
ago. This year the French Academy has
awarded him the Grand Prix Broquette-
Gonin "pour 1' ��senible de ses oeuvres."
In speaking of his teaching Mr. Hazard
once said that if he were to write a book
on pedagogy he would include a chapter
entitled "De finHuence des eleves sur lc
professeur." In his teaching he has add-
ed to the qualities of his scholarly work,
the charm and vividness of his presenta-
tion of his carefully documented material
a most lively and generous interest in his
students and their work. To foreign
students especially his kindness has been
unbounded. His teaching at the Uni-
versity of Lyons was interrupted by the
war, in which he won the Croix de
Guerre, with the citation "Officer.de haute
valeur intellectuelle ct morale qui a rendu
de brillants services. . . .. Plein d'en-
train et anime d'un sentiment du devoir*
tres eleve, s'e'st a maintes reprises offert
spontanement pour accomplir des mis-
sions dangereuses en premiere ligne." At
the close of the war he was appointed to
the Sorbonne where his class rooms were
filled to overflowing with enthusiastic
students. In 1925 he was called to the
College de France�the highest honor
which can come to a French professor.
Contemporary literature is one of Mr.
Hazard's great'interests, and the subject
of his lecture, "La Poesie contemporaine,"
can hardly fail to attract the Bryn Mawr
audience for whom poetry, it seems, has
always a special appeal.
Erudite Speeches at
Math Club Meeting
The Math Club held its second meet-
ing of the year on Thursday afternoon
in the May Day room. Ruth Kitchen
spoke on Congruence and Juliet Gar-
rett spoke on tbe Tri-Section of the
Angle and the Duplication of the Cube
The members who are privileged to
hear and understand these discussions
are all past or present members of the
major math class. After the talks tea
was served, followed by discussion.
The meetings are supposed to take
place once a month. Dr. Widder spoke
at the first one. The officers of the
club are: Agnes Hannay, president;
C. Peckham, vice president, and R.
Kitchen, secretary.
VARSITY DRAMATICS CHOOSES
POOR PLAY, BUT ACTS WELL
Mr. Mukerji Heturntt
Dhan. Gopal Mukerji, who
thrilled Bryn Mawr. undergrad-
uates last year by telling them ho\j.
*jthey could learn the secret of true
, repose, is coming again on the
tenth "of January, and will speak
in the Music Room in the after-
noon at 4, Mr. Mukerji not only
knows and understands his own
country, hut he has I wed here long
enough to enter into the spirit,of
ours a�d-to speak its language with
compelling force. He will probably
say something about the modern
problems of India, on which he is
an authority. Among his well-
known books are Vaste and Out-
cast, and My Brother's Pact,
Qiaap^oiRtir^ "^~""*ion in
Spite of Good Coaching
and Staging.
TWO CRITICS AGREE
Miss Peek Offers a More
Aloof Criticism of Play
Two opinions are always more inter-
esting than one, particularly when one is
an undergraduate opinion and the other
from the bosom of the faculty. We know
each other too well; and even the glam-
orous footlights cannot give the illu-
sion necessary for complete-impartiality
and lack of prejudice. Miss Peck con-
sented to play the part of the aloof dra-
matic critic; and, strangely enough,
aloofness and familiarity have arrived at
nearly the same conclusions.
(Specially Contributed by K. Peek, '22)
Mr. Halcott Glover's comedy, Bellairs,
presented by Varsity Dramatics, proved
to be scarcely a �fair criterion of the
skill.of the playwright, nor of the ability
of the Bryn Mawr players. We feel that
Mr. Glover ought to adopt Mr. Bernard
Shaw's policy of refusing to allow his
plays to be- performed under circum-
stances which necessitate cutting. Bellairs,
essentially a sophisticated, breezy comedy
of the private life of an F.nglish artist
who, in splfe of himself, is hunted down
in his "retirement" by family responsi-
bilities, had to be shorn of most of its
sophistication and brceziness before" *t
could suitably grace the Bryn Mawr
boards. The actors, in consequence,
found themselves left with a somewhat
flat, thoroughly mediocre piece on their
hands. Most of its raison d'etre had
been censored, and it responded only
feebly to their very excellent efforts to
carry it. ' .
Miss Rieser as Bellairs himself gave on
the whole a convincing. interpretation of
the harassed artist. She was thoroughly
in character throughout her performance,
"temperamental," quixotic, and all the
rest of it. She kept up the tempo of the
scenes easily and they pivoted around her
as they were meant to do. There was
not, perhaps, enough contrast in her play-
ing, and her gestures, excellent at first,
tended to become stereotyped and repeti-
tious. She made the mistake of failing to
give Bellairs the full benefit of his few
expansive, genial moments; his cynicism
was tinged alternately with youthful and
senile malice, never with seasoned
sophistication.
Miss Learned's Betty Barclay fell
somewhere between the pert, pretty
barmaid and the sharp slavey. She
played the part without real emphasis,
but with admirable composure and
with charming,moments. Miss Perk-
kins as Dorothy Bellairs looked de-
lightful and acted delightfully. She
was thoroughly convincing as , she
voiced her romantic aspiration to take
to the open road with her young vaga-
bond, Giovanni, who, as played by
Miss Thomas, made such an aspiration
quite understandable. Miss Thomas
with her truly Latin ardour and lucid
common sense made the right contrast
with the cold-blooded, muddled-headed
English about her.
Miss Drake gave perhaps the most
finished piece of acting of the evening.
Her Diana Martin was amusing, spir-
ited and well-accented. It was a pleas-
ure to have her on the stage.
Continued on Pag* T*0
Bellairs, a play by Halcott Glover,
was given in Goodhart Hall on Saturday
Might by the Varsity Dramatics. Be-
cause it was the first undergraduate pro-
duction in Goodhart Hall, because it had
enjoyed the benefits of professional
coaching, and because of the amount of
work that has been put into it, we went
with high hopes. We came away dis-
appointed.
Goodhart, as always, looked lovely; so
did the ushers, an unusually numerous
bevy of beauties; so did the program,
which seemed to contain, in one capacity
or another, half the people,in college; so,
finally, when the curtain went up, did t
the stage. The scenery committee had
worked wonders. Varsity Dramatics has
l>cen clamoring for a stage where they
could have adequate scenery, and they
proved themselves in that respect worthy
of it. The scene painters had worked
day and night since Thursday, and the
effect was charming.
The first two acts were laid in a gar-
den, with a red brick cottage afTne back,
a blue sky which was cheerful if un- �
English, trees peeping over the high walls
and pleasant garden chairs. The walls ,
were decked with vines�our own col-
lege vines, looking even better on red
brick than they do on gray stone.
So we waited eagerly lor the play to
begin. An attractive young girl was say-
ing nasty things to her father, the old
Continued on Page Three ..
Religion Defaults
Quest for Spiritual Welfare Is
Both Important and
Exciting.
Only about twelve stUddhts had
sufficient eifergy to attend empel Fri-
day morning, December 14. The sub-
ject which Mrs. Manning chose was
very apropos. She discussed the real
need of Bryn Mawr and other colleges
for religious life and why colleges were
accused of not taking care of that side
of the students' life. Religion goes by
default rather than by direct under-
mining of beliefs with which youth
starts out. A great deal of this is lost
because they think thew are so many
more exciting things going on in col-
lejzc. "Young people djako a terrible
mistake," Mrs. Manning thinks, "in
thus regarding other things as more
exciting than the consideration of the
ultimate good, toward which they can
look forward." There is nothing more
exciting than that quest. Students are
really interested but they have too little
opportunity to see things through.
It might be a good idea, Mrs. Man-
ning suggested, if each member of the
faculty . could speak during the year
about this subject. But they could
not on account of the societies. Per-
haps it is for the best that they cannot,
for we are often disappointed when we
hear some one explain their views.
Mrs. Manning illustrated this by Mr.
Watson's lecture on Behaviorism.
After he had brought forward an ex-
cellent idea, he went on to give grue-
some details about married life, also he
defined happiness. Happiness is an
absorption in activity. This idea cer-
tainly shows no great new creative
effort. It is an animal idea of satisfac-
tion and absorption in what you are
doing at the moment.
"Spiritual welfare is really preferable
to bodily comfort." The greatest diffi-
culty is the question of time. That is
all the more reason why we should
take all the opportunities we have be-
cause the more we think about these
things the more interesting they be-
come.---------__